Arashiyama

Janne Ahola — Arashiyama 2026

Video sculpture 
Acrylic on canvas, animation, LCD screens, aluminum extrusions, Raspberry Pi, cabling, 5V power supplies.

Duration: 3:30min
Size: approx. 110 x 40 x 15 cm

Arashiyama is a multichannel video installation that uses the logic of ecosystems to think about how systems stay coherent and how imitation (mimicry, parasitism) can function as a basic survival strategy.

The original base layer is an acrylic painting, which is scanned and used as the foundation for the moving image. Analog and digital elements are contained in a framed structure that stages an artificial micro-environment. In this ecosystem the parts sit close enough to hint at symbiosis, but still feel slightly sealed off.

Conceptually, the piece draws from the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Kyoto, Japan, where repetition and density shape how you move through the space. The viewer’s attention is pulled by patterns rather than a single focal point. Arashiyama translates that logic into an installation built on layering: in the process, in the moving image and in the physical structure.